Part 11

98. And thus it came to pass that even among the Gentiles there were some who prophesied the advent of Christ and the other dogmas of the Christian faith, to wit _Balaam_, _Mercurius Trismegistus_, _Hydaspes_, and the _Sibyls_ mentioned by Lactantius, book 1, ch. 6, as written by Baronius, _Apparat. Annal., nº 18_. That the Messiah was expected by the Gentiles is shown by many passages of Isaiah, and plainly testified by the prophecy of Jacob, the Patriarch, thus worded, Genesis, ch. 49, v. 10: “_The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from between his feet, until Shiloh (he who is to be sent) come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be._”--Likewise in the prophecy of Haggai, ch. 2, v. 8: “_I will shake all Nations, and the desire of all Nations shall come_”; which passage is thus commented by Cornelius a Lapide: “_The Gentiles before the advent of Christ, who believed in God and observed the law of nature, expected and desired Christ equally with the Jews._” Christ himself disclosed and manifested himself to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews; for, at the same time as the Angel apprized the shepherds of his nativity, by means of the miraculous star he called the Magi to worship him, who, being Gentiles, were the first among the Nations, as the shepherds among the Jews, to acknowledge and worship Christ (_Vide_ St Fulgentius, _Sermon 6, upon Epiphany_). In like manner, the advent of Christ was made known by preaching (I am not speaking of the Apostles) to the Gentiles before it was to the Jews. As is written by the Venerable Mother, Sister Maria of Agreda, in her _Life of Jesus-Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary_: “_When the Blessed Virgin Mary, fleeing with St Joseph, from the persecution of Herod, carried the Infant Jesus into Egypt, she tarried there seven years; and, during that time, the Blessed Virgin herself preached to the Egyptians the faith of the true God and the advent of the Son of God in human flesh._” Besides, the nativity of Christ was attended by numerous prodigies, not only in Judæa, but also in Egypt, where the idols tumbled and the oracles were hushed; in Rome, where a spring of oil gushed out, a gold-coloured globe was seen to descend from the skies on earth, three suns appeared, and an extraordinary ring, variegated like a rainbow, encircled the disc of the sun; in Greece, where the oracle of Delphi was struck dumb, and Apollo, asked the reason of his silence by Augustus, who was offering up a sacrifice in his own palace where he had raised an altar to him, answered:

“_A Hebrew child, who sways the Gods, and himself a God, Bids me quit my seat and return to the infernal regions; Depart therefore from our altars, henceforward mute._”

There were many more prodigies warning the Gentiles of the advent of the Son of God: they have been collected from various Authors, by Baronius, and are to be found in his _Apparat. Annal. Eccles._, and Cornelius, _Commentary upon Haggai_.

99. Ex istis patet, quod etiam Gentiles pertinebant ad ovile Christi idem, ad quod spectabant Judæi, puta ad Ecclesiam eamdem fidelem; igitur non potest recte dici, quod illa verba Christi: =Alias oves habeo, quæ non sunt ex hoc ovili=, accipienda sint de Gentilibus, qui communem cum Hebræis habuerunt de Deo fidem, de Messia spem, prophetiam, expectationem, et signa, et prædicationem.

99. From all this it is clear that the Gentiles also belonged, like the Jews, to the fold of Christ, that is, to the same Church of the Faithful; it cannot therefore be correctly said that the words of Christ: “_Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold_”, are applicable to the Gentiles, who had, in common with the Hebrews, the faith in God, the hope, prophecy, expectation, prodigies and preaching of the Messiah.

100. Dico igitur quod nomine =aliarum ovium= commode possunt intelligi Creaturæ istæ rationales, sive animalia, de quibus hucusque disseruimus. Cum enim, ut diximus, capaces sint beatitudinis, et damnationis, et Christus Jesus sit mediator Dei, et hominum, immo totius rationalis creaturæ (creaturæ enim rationales, quæ beatitudinem consequuntur, hanc obtinent intuitu meritorum Christi per ab eo sibi collatam gratiam, sine qua nequit beatitudo obtineri), debuit omnis rationalis creatura de eo venturo spem habere, sicut de uno Deo fidem, et de ipsius in carne nativitate, et de præceptis legis gratiæ manifestationem. Istæ igitur erant oves, quæ non erant =ex hoc ovili humano=, et quas adducere Christum oportebat, et quæ ejus vocem nempe notitiam de ipsius adventu, et de evangelica doctrina, quantum per se, tum per Apostolos Christus erat manifestaturus, audire debebant, et ex iis ac hominibus in cœlo beatificatis fieri =unum ovile, et unus Pastor=.

100. I therefore say that by the words _other sheep_ may very well be understood those rational Creatures or animals of whom we have been treating hitherto. They being, as we have said, capable of beatitude and damnation, and Jesus-Christ being the mediator between God and man, as also every rational Creature (for rational creatures attain to beatitude in consideration of the merits of Christ, through the grace he confers upon them, without which beatitude is impossible of attainment), every rational creature must have cherished, at the same time as the faith in one God, the hope of the advent of Christ, and have had the revelation of his nativity in the flesh and of the principles of the law of grace. Those were therefore the sheep which were not _of that human fold_, and which Christ had to bring; the sheep which were to hear His voice, that is, the announcement of His advent and of the evangelical doctrine, either directly through Himself, or through the Apostles; the sheep which, partaking with men of heavenly beatitude, were to realize _one fold and one shepherd_.

101. Huic expositioni quam incongruam non puto, vim addit id quod supra nº 77. ex D. Hieronymo retulimus de homunculo illo qui rogavit D. Antonium, ut communem Deum, quem in carne humana esse passum cognoverat, pro se et suis =deprecaretur=. Innuitur enim ex his, quod illi notitiam habuerunt de adventu et morte Christi, quem tamquam Deum optabant sibi propitium, ut proinde ad hoc intercessionem D. Antonii expostularent.

101. To this interpretation, which I hold to be in no way improper, force is added by what we related, according to St Hieronymus, of that little man who requested St Anthony to _pray_, for him and his fellows, unto the common God, whom he knew to have suffered in human flesh. For, it implies that they were aware of the advent and of the death of Christ, whom, as God, they were anxious to propitiate, since they sought, to that effect, the intercession of St Anthony.

102. Facit ad idem id, quod ex Eusebio de =Præparat. Evang.= l. 5. c. 9., et Plutarcho l. de =Defectu Oracul.=, refert Cardinalis Baronius, =Appar. Annal.= nº 129., et recenset inter prodigia, quæ tempore mortis Christi evenere. Recitat igitur ex citatis Aucthoribus quod Tiberii Imperatoris, sub quo passus est Christus, tempore, navigantibus nonnullis a Græcia in Italiam, circa Insulas Echinades, cessatis ventis, noctu navigium appulit prope terram. Audita fuit ab omnibus vox magna quæ vocavit Tramnum. Erat is Nauclerus navigii, quo respondente =Adsum=, replicavit vox: “=Quando perveneris prope quandam paludem, annunciabis MAGNUM PANA MORTUUM ESSE=”: quod cum Tramnus fecisset, auditi sunt repente multorum, imo multitudinis prope infinitæ gemitus, et ululatus. Profecto isti fuerunt Dæmones, seu Angeli corporei, seu animalia rationalia prope paludem degentia, utpote aquea, quæ audita morte Christi, qui nomine magni Pan efferebatur, in lacrymas et lamenta effusa sunt; prout etiam Hebræi nonnulli visa Christi morte percutientes pectora sua revertebantur (=Luc.= c. 23. v. 48.). Ex hucusque igitur deductis patet, quod dantur hujusmodi Dæmones, succubi et incubi, constantes sensu, et ipsius passionibus obnoxii, ut probatum est; qui generantur, corrumpuntur, et capaces sunt beatitudinis, et damnationis, et ratione corporis subtilioris, nobiliores homine sunt, et qui si cum hominibus, maribus aut fœminis, carnaliter commiscentur, peccant, et eo peccato, quo peccat homo jungendo se cum bruto, quod est homine ignobilius; proinde non raro hi Dæmones consuetudinem habentes cum homine, aut equabus, post longam habitam communicationem eos interficiunt. Causa porro hujus est, quod si inter tales datur peccatum, cum sint in via, dari etiam debet pœnitentia; sicut ergo homini peccanti consuetudinaliter cum bruto, ad tollendam occasionem recidivandi, Confessarius injungit, ut brutum tollat de medio, ita tali Dæmoni consuetudinario in peccato, et tandem pœœnitenti accidit, ut animal cum quo peccavit, sive homo, sive brutum fuerit, occidat; nec enim tali Dæmoni mors data homini peccatum erit, sicut mors data bruto non imputatur tamquam peccatum homini: ratione enim essentialis differentiæ inter Dæmonem hujusmodi, et hominem, idem erit homo Dæmoni, quod est homini brutum.

102. Thereto tends also the fact mentioned by Cardinal Baronius (_Appar. Annal._ nº 129), after Eusebius and Plutarch, as being one of the prodigies which took place at the time of the death of Christ. He relates that in the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, when Christ suffered, whilst mariners bound from Greece to Italy, were by night, and during a calm, in the vicinity of the Echinade Isles, their ship was brought close to land. All the crew heard a loud voice calling Tramnus, the master of the ship. He having answered to his name, the voice replied: “When near such a marsh, announce that _the great Pan is dead_.” Which Tramnus having done, there arose suddenly, as from a numberless multitude, groans and shrieks. Doubtless, they were Demons, or corporeal Angels, or rational animals living near the marsh on account of their aqueous nature, and who, hearing of the death of Christ, described by the name of Great Pan, burst into tears and bewailing, like some of the Jews who, after witnessing the death of Christ, went home smiting their breasts (_Luke_, ch. 23, v. 48). From all that has been deduced above, it is therefore clear that there are such Demons, succubi and incubi, endowed with senses and subject to the passions thereof, as has been shown; who are born through generation and die through corruption, are capable of beatitude and damnation, more noble than man, by reason of the greater subtilty of their bodies, and who, when having intercourse with man, male or female, fall into the same sin as man when copulating with a beast, which is inferior to him. Also, it not unfrequently occurs that those Demons slay the men, women or mares with whom they have had protracted intercourse; and the reason is that, being liable to sin whilst on the way to salvation, _in via_, they must likewise be open to repentance; and, in the same manner as a man, who habitually sins with a beast, is enjoined by his confessor to destroy that beast, with a view to suppressing the occasion of relapsing, it may likewise happen that the penitent demon should slay the animal with which it sinned, whether man or beast; nor will death thus occasioned to a man be reckoned a sin to the Demon, any more than death inflicted on a beast is imputed as a sin to man; for, considering the essential difference between a Demon of that kind and man, the man will be the same thing to the Demon as the beast is to man.

103. Scio multos, et forte plerosque, qui hæc legerent, dicturos de me, quod Epicurei et Stoici Philosophi nonnulli dixerunt de Divo Paulo, =Actor.= c. 17. v. 18.: =Novorum Dæmoniorum videtur annunciator=, et datam doctrinam exsibillabunt. Sed isti tenebuntur solvere argumenta supra posita, et dicere quinam sint Dæmones isti Incubi, vulgo =Folletti=, qui exorcismos, res sacras, et Christi Crucem non pavent, ac alios effectus istorum, ac phænomena salvare, quæ nos ex data doctrina ostendimus.

103. I am aware that many, perhaps most of my readers, will say of me what the Epicureans and some Stoic Philosophers said of St Paul (_Acts of the Apostles_, ch. 17, v. 18). “_He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods_”, and will deride my doctrine. But they will none the less have to answer the foregoing arguments, to show what are those Incubi Demons, commonly called _Goblins_, who dread neither exorcisms, nor the holy things, nor the Cross of Christ, and to explain the various effects and phenomena related when propounding that doctrine.

104. Solvitur ergo ex his, quæ hucusque deducta sunt, quæstio, quam proposuimus supra nº 30 et nº 34: resolutive innuimus, quomodo mulier potest ingravidari a dæmone Incubo. Non enim hoc præstare potest ex semine sumpto ab homine, ut fert communis opinio, quam confutavimus nº 31 et 32: sequitur ergo, quod ipsa imprægnatur a semine Incubi, cum enim animal sit, et generet, proprio pollet semine: et hoc modo optime salvatur generatio Gigantum secuta ex commixtione Filiorum Dei cum Filiabus hominum; nati siquidem sunt ex tali concubitu Gigantes, qui licet homini essent similes, corpore tamen erant majores: et quamvis a Dæmonibus geniti, viribus proinde pollerent, non tamen Dæmonum vires et potentiam æquabant, ut sequitur in mulis, hinnis et burdonibus, qui medii quodammodo sunt inter eas species animalium, a quibus promiscue generantur, et superant quidem imperfectiorem, non attingunt autem perfectiorem speciem generantium: mulus enim superat asinum, sed non æquat perfectionem equæ, a quibus generatur.

104. What we have hitherto deduced accordingly solves the question laid down N^{rs} 30 and 34, to wit: how a woman can be got with child by an Incubus Demon? In fact, it cannot be brought about by sperm assumed from a man, agreeably to the common opinion which we confuted, N^{rs} 31 and 32; it follows, therefore, that she is directly impregnated by the sperm of the Incubus, which, being an animal and capable of breeding, has sperm of its own. And thus is fully explained the begetting of Giants from the intercourse of the Sons of God with the Daughters of men: for that intercourse gave birth to Giants who, although like unto men, were of higher stature, and, though begotten by Demons, and consequently of great strength, yet equalled them neither in might nor in power. It is the same with mules, which are intermediate, as it were, between the kinds of animals from whose promiscuousness they are sprung, and which excel indeed the most imperfect, but never equal the most perfect: thus, the mule excels the ass, but does not attain the perfection of the mare, which have begotten it.

105. Confirmat autem hanc sententiam consideratio, quod animalia genita ex commixtione diversarum specierum non generant; sed sunt sterilia, ut patet in mulis. Gigantes autem non leguntur Gigantes generasse, sed natos a Filiis Dei, puta Incubis, et Filiabus hominum: cum enim concepti fuerint ex semine Dæmoniaco mixto cum humano, non potuerunt, tamquam mediæ speciei inter Dæmonem et hominem, generare.

105. In confirmation of the above inference, we observe that animals sprung from the mixing of different kinds do not breed, but are barren, as is seen with mules. Now we do not read of Giants having been begotten by other Giants, but of their having been born of the Sons of God, that is Incubi, and the Daughters of men: being thus begotten of the Demoniac sperm mixed with the human sperm, and being, as it were, an intermediate species between the Demon and man, they had no generative power.

106. Dicetur fortasse contra hoc, non posse, ex semine Dæmonum, quod pro sui natura opportet esse tenuissimum, fieri mixturam cum semine humano, quod crassum est; unde nec generatio sequi possit.

106. It may be objected that the sperm of Demons, which must, by nature, be most fluid, could not mix with the human sperm, which is thick, and that, consequently, no generation would ensue.

107. Respondeo quod, ut dictum fuit supra nº 32: virtus generandi consistit in spiritu, qui simul cum materia spumosa et viscida deciditur a generante; sequitur ex hoc, quod semen Dæmonis quantumvis tenuissimum, quia tamen materiale, optime potest commisceri cum spiritu materiali seminis humani, ac fieri generatio.

107. I reply that, as has been said above, N^r 32, the generative power lies in the spirit that comes from the generator at the same time as the spumy and viscous matter; it follows that, although most liquid, the sperm of the Demon, being nevertheless material, can very well mix with the material spirit of the human sperm, and bring about generation.

108. Replicabitur adhuc contra conclusionem, quod si vere fuisset Gigantum generatio ex semine Incuborum et Mulierum, nunc quoque Gigantes nascerentur: non desunt enim mulieres coeuntes cum Incubis, ut patet ex gestis SS. Bernardi et Petri de Alcantara, et aliarum historiarum, quæ passim ab auctoribus recitantur.

108. It will be retorted that, if the generation of Giants had really come from the combined sperms of Incubi and Women, Giants would still be born in our time, since there is no lack of women who have intercourse with Incubi, as is shown by the Acts of St Bernard and Peter of Alcantara, and other stories related by various authors.

109. Respondeo, quod prout ex Guaccio dictum fuit supra nº 81: alii sunt hujusmodi Dæmones terrei, alii aquei, aerei alii, et alii ignei, qui respective in propriis eorum elementis habitant. Videmus autem animalia eo majora esse quo majus est elementum in quo degunt, ut patet in piscibus, inter quos licet multi sint minuti, ut etiam sunt plura animalia terrestria minutissima, et tamen quia elementum aquæ majus est elemento terræ (utpote continens majus semper est contento), ideo pisces a tota specie superant in magnitudine molis animalia terrestria, ut patet in balenis, orcynis, pistis seu pistricibus, thynnis, ac aliis piscibus cetaceis, seu viviparis, qui quodvis animal terrestre longe superant. Porro cum Dæmones hujusmodi animalia sint, ut hucusque probatum est, eo erunt majores in magnitudine quo elementum majus pro sui natura inhabitabunt. Et cum aer excedat aquam, et ignis aere major sit, sequitur, quod Dæmones ætherei ac ignei longe superabunt terrestres et aqueos, tum in mole corporis, tum in virtute. Nec contra hoc facit instantia de avibus, qui licet incolant aerem, qui major est aqua, tamen corpore minores sunt a tota specie piscibus et quadrupedibus, quia aves, licet per aerem volatu spatientur, revera tamen pertinent ad elementum terræ, in qua quiescunt; aliter enim pisces nonnulli qui volant, ut hirundo marina, et alii, dici deberent animalia aerea, quod falsum est.

109. I reply that, as has been said above, N^r 81, from Guaccius, some of those Demons are earthly, some aqueous, some aerial, some igneous, and they all dwell in their respective element. Now, it is well known that animals are of larger size, according to the element they live in; thus with fishes, many of which are diminutive, it is true, as happens with animals that live on land; but, the element water being larger than the element earth, since the container is always larger than the contents, fishes as a species, surpass in size the animals that dwell on land, as shown by whales, tunnies, cachalots, and other cetaceous and viviparous fish which surpass by far all animals that live on land. Consequently, these Demons being animals, as has been shown, their size will be proportionate to the extent of the element they dwell in, according to their nature. And, air being more extensive than water, and fire than air, it follows that ethereal and igneous Demons will by far surpass their earthly and aqueous fellows, both in stature and might. It would be to no purpose to instance, as an objection, birds which, although inhabitants of the air, a more extensive element than water, are smaller, as a species, than fishes and quadrupeds; for, if birds do indeed travel through the air by means of their wings, they no less belong to the element earth, where they rest; otherwise, some fishes that fly, such as the sea swallow, would have to be classed among aerial animals, which is not.

110. Advertendum autem, quod post diluvium aer iste terraqueo globo citissimus magis incrassatus est ex humiditate aquarum, quam fuerit ante diluvium, et hinc forte est, quod ex tali humido, quod est principium corruptionis, fiat, quod homines non ætatem ita producant, ut faciebant ante diluvium. Ex ista autem aeris crassitie fit, quod Dæmones ætherei, ac ignei, cæteris corpulentiores, nequeunt diutius manere in hoc aere crasso, et si descendunt aliquando hoc fit violenter, et eo modo quo urinatores ad ima maris descendunt.

110. Now, it must be observed that, after the flood, the air which surrounds our earthy and aqueous globe, became, from the damp of the waters, thicker than it had been before; and, damp being the principle of corruption, that may be the reason why men do not live as long as they did before the flood. It is also on account of that thickness of the air that ethereal and igneous Demons, more corpulent than the others, can no longer dwell in that thick atmosphere, and if they do descend into it occasionally, do so only by force, much as divers descend into the depths of the sea.

111. Ante diluvium autem, cum adhuc aer non ita crassus erat, veniebant Dæmones, et cum mulieribus miscebantur, et gigantes procreabant, qui magnitudinem corpoream Dæmonum generantium æmulabantur. Nunc vero ita non est: Dæmones enim Incubi, qui fœminas incessunt, sunt aquei quorum corporis moles magna non est: et proinde in forma homuncionum apparent, et quia aquei etiam salacissimi sunt; luxuria enim in humido est: ut proinde Venerem e mari natam Poetæ finxerint, quod Mythologi explicant de libidine, quæ oritur ab humiditate. Cum ergo Dæmones, qui corpore parvi sunt his temporibus mulieres imprægnent, non gigantes, sed staturæ ordinariæ filii nascuntur. Sciendum porro quod si miscentur corporaliter cum mulieribus Dæmones in sua ipsorum corpulentia naturali, nulla facta immutatione aut artificio, mulieres illos non vident, nisi tanquam umbram pæne incertam, ac quasi insensibilem, ut patet in muliere illa, de qua diximus supra nº 28., quæ osculabatur ab incubo, cujus tactus vix ab ea sentiebatur. Quando vero volunt se visibiles amasiis reddere, atque ipsis delectationem in congressu carnali afferre, sibi indumentum visibile assumunt, et corpus crassum reddunt. Qua vero hoc arte fiat, ipsi norunt. Nobis curta nostra Philosophia hoc non pandit. Unum scire possumus, et est, quod tale indumentum seu corpus ex solo aere concreto constare nequiret, hoc enim esse deberet per condensationem, et proinde per frigus; unde oporteret, quod corpus illud ad tactum esset veluti glacies, et ita in coitu mulieres non delectaret, sed torqueret, cum tamen contrarium eveniat.